Citrasolv Dishtowel Tutorial

I love learning about new ways to be crafty.  When I heard about Citrasolv transfers, I went crazy.  I started using it on everything I could think of.  I added a design to the seat of a metal chair (but once again I forgot to get a picture of it before it sold at the antique store), I added a few designs to some t-shirts and more recently I decorated some plain white flour sack dish towels.

A friend of mine recently purchased her first house.  I really wanted to send her a little housewarming gift and I immediately thought of Citrasolv dish towels.  Now, I am going to show you had to make your own.

Supplies:
Citrasolv (found at health food stores, I found it at Whole Foods)
Flour Sack Dish Towels (or any fabric or fabric surface if you aren't making dish towels)
Cotton Balls
Laser Jet Printer (Ink Jet will not work)
Scissors (or something with a smooth surface to use during the transfer)

Step 1:  Create your design. I created an Audrey Hepburn design with one of her quotes using Publisher.  I created a poster using the dimensions of my flour sack towel.  Publisher will split the design up into several pages that create a large poster.  The other way to do this (and probably the easier way) is to create parts of your design on each page and piece it together when transferring the design. The hard part about the way I did it is making sure you line up the design perfectly.

IMPORTANT:  Make sure to print your design in reverse.  The easiest way I have found to do this is create the design on Publisher.  Once you are done creating, click "Select All" from the Edit drop down menu.  Roll your mouse over the design and right click.  Select "Save as Picture"  Then open a new publisher project and insert the picture you just saved.  Then reverse the image by selecting the "Arrange" drop down menu, "Rotate or Flip" menu and select Flip Horizontal.

Once you have your printed design, lay it out under the flour sack towel to make sure you have lined up in the area you want it and you can see how the final design will appear.  (It's hard to see in this picture, but I promise it's there.)  Now, lay it out on top of the flour sack so you know where to transfer each sheet.

I like to start in the middle and work my out from there.  Set all the other sections of the design off to the side.  Don't mix them up, you don't want to forget which one goes in which spot.

The way these print on publisher, each sheet will line up to the next one with a slight overlap.  Make sure it lines up both at the top and the bottom to help make sure you end up with an even design.

Lay the sheet face down on the towel.  Wet the cotton ball with Citrasolv (don't soak it, you don't want to immerse the paper, just moisten it).  Rub the cotton ball over the printed part of the paper.

Use a smooth surface (like the handle of a pair of scissors) to rub the entire design.  This will help transfer the design.  The more pressure you apply, the darker the transfer will be.  When you think you have covered the whole area, hold one side of the paper in place and carefully lift up the other side to make sure it looks right.  If not, lay the paper back down (making sure it is in the same spot) and try again.

Repeat this with each page until you have completed the whole design.

I made a couple more so I can send a full set of towels as a housewarming gift.

I hope she likes these as much as I do.  I was so excited with how they turned out, that I decided to make a few for myself.  And now it's your turn. Enjoy!

   

Last Name Wall Art

I am one of those people who loves giving gifts.  I love it!  I love to really think about what someone might want or appreciate.  I love to see their reaction when they open it.  I love to design/create something unique that you can't find at the store. I just love everything about it! I love it!

I knew when I saw this tutorial from Full of Great Ideas that I had to make one and I knew exactly who I wanted to make it for...my parents.  Their anniversary is on Christmas Eve.  This means that even if I don't draw either one of their names at Christmas, I still get to give them a gift without breaking the rules.

After searching (and searching and searching) through all of the letters, I finally decided on a good mix of colors and designs that I knew they would like.  It was pretty quick and easy to create the design.  

Plus, I totally lucked out and came across this great frame at an antique mall.  It was originally a picture of a shoe and I only paid $12.  That's right...I said $12.

All that was left to do was print the design.  But for some reason I couldn't get my act together and get that part done.  Next thing I knew it was Dec. 21st and I hadn't done a thing yet.  So, without taking the time to check out the prices at all the different places I could have it printed, I rushed down to Kinkos and just went for it.  I am sure I could have done this cheaper, but I didn't have the time.  There was only 3 days left to get it printed and in the frame.  But, I don't regret it.  I turned out just as I had imagined.  I was thrilled with the final result.  

And more importantly, so were mom and dad!!

The Best Seat in the House

My favorite part about giving a gift is seeing the surprise/excitement on the other person's face.  This gift got me just that exact reaction.  And I love that!

This past year the family decided we would have a nothing-new Christmas.  Not including the gifts for all the kids, any presents we gave had to be recycled, handmade, previously used or vintage.  Every year we each draw a name of another family member and have a $50 budget.  I drew my sister-in-law Laura's name.  She wanted anything for the house, specifically a bench for the entry way or front porch if I could find one.  She also said she would like to have something with their last name on it, if possible.

Challenge accepted.

I came across this cute little storage bench at an antique mall and it was quite a steal at $20.  All it needed was a little personalization and it would be exactly what she was looking for.

Luckily, I just learned how to do a Citrasolv transfer and had the perfect solution...

I printed their last name in a variety of different fonts on my handy dandy laser printer (in reverse of course) and transferred them onto the thick comfy cushion I made.  These transfers took under an hour!  How can you beat that???

Plus, I already had a piece of 4" foam that was the perfect size for this bench!  The whole thing ended up costing less than $30!  The only problem is now I am a little jealous...secretly I thought about keeping it and coming up with a different gift.  But, after seeing how much she liked it...I was glad I didn't.

Old Shirts = New Scarf

A while back I decided I wanted to do a few recycled projects with old t-shirts.  I asked everyone I know to clean out their dressers and donate a few t-shirts to my cause.  I couldn't believe how they all came through for me...

Three quarters of this pile is from my brothers and their families.  The other quarter is from the 98 cent sale at the DAV Thrift store.

I already had several projects in mind. Revamp a few t-shirts into a new look, a scarf, an ipod case, a laptop sleeve, a few green bags, a scarf, a skirt, maybe a few pair of pajama shorts, etc.

I may not get through all of those projects, but I will definitely get several of them made.  So, let's start with the scarf...

I decided to get a little scrappy with this project.  I picked 25 t-shirts that had fun or colorful prints on them and cut them up into 9" x 4" rectangles.  I made sure not to put two t-shirts of the same color next to each other, but other than I just start picking up pieces and stitching them together to create the front of the scarf. Then I took a piece of solid navy jersey fabric that I had in my stash and cut it to the same size as my scarf front.

To add a little feminine flair to the scarf, I stitched a ruffle on each end before stitching the front and back together.

The coolest thing about this scarf was that when I wore it around my family, everyone could look at the scarf and see what used to be there t-shirt...and everyone had a little piece in there.  

Plus, it keeps me a lot warmer than I expected.  Perfect for cool days.